Just one quick glance at the spec sheets for machines like the Bugatti Chiron and Koenigsegg Agera RS will quickly reveal one very startling fact – modern top-shelf performance cars are crazy stupid fast. But how’d we get here? How is it you can go out and (given proper funds) purchase a street-legal four-wheeled sports car capable of going almost 280 mph? To quote David post dentist trip – “Is this real life?” I assure you, dear readers, it really is, and in this 8-minute, 46-second video, Donut Media tells us the how and the why.

The video starts us pretty early in history (1829), kicking off with steam power, but quickly gets into internal combustion before building towards the insanity of the modern day. It’s also filled to the brim with interesting facts and stories, and offers an good perspective on just far we’ve come – and how far we need to go to get even faster.